3. Interpret the parable of the barren fig tree. 4. What did both John and Jesus say to the people? 5. What do we learn from Jesus's exclamation against the cities where His greatest works had been done? 6. How is repentance a fundamental principle in our daily work? 7. Of what does Jesus want people to repent? 8. How is repentance the second principle of the Gospel? 9. Of what does true repentance consist? {127} {128} PICTURE: BAPTISM OF JESUS, Weberg {129} XVII BAPTISM BY IMMERSION [Sidenote: The first principles and ordinances.] When the Prophet Joseph Smith was asked to make a statement of the principal doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he prepared what we know now as the Articles of Faith. The Articles of Faith are very plain, and touch the fundamental tenets of the Church. The third article of faith states that "we believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel;" and the fourth article declares that, "we believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." Those who profess faith in Jesus must forsake the way of evil, and learn to take delight in the law of the Lord. This, we have learned, constitutes the requirement of the first two principles of the Gospel. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so; But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; But the way of the ungodly shall perish. {130} [Sidenote: Baptism essential to salvation.]